Best of Last Week – Star Wars shield possible, new element confirmed and brain based microchip

Superconducting materials expel magnetic fields, whose repulsive force can levitate a magnet, as shown here. Nevertheless, studies have shown superconductivity and magnetism can coexist in the same material. Now SLAC and Stanford researchers show that the two phases are interwoven at a very fine, microscopic level in a type of high-temperature superconductor known as an iron pnictide, and reveal how one phase gives way to the other. Credit: Julien Bobroff, Frederic Bouquet and Jeffrey Quilliam/Laboratory of Solid State Physics, LPS, via Wikimedia Commons

Superconducting materials expel magnetic fields, whose repulsive force can levitate a magnet, as shown here. Nevertheless, studies have shown superconductivity and magnetism can coexist in the same material. Now SLAC and Stanford researchers show that the two phases are interwoven at a very fine, microscopic level in a type of high-temperature superconductor known as an iron pnictide, and reveal how one phase gives way to the other. Credit: Julien Bobroff, Frederic Bouquet and Jeffrey Quilliam/Laboratory of Solid State Physics, LPS, via Wikimedia Commons

In other news, a team of researchers working in Arizona announced: Mystery of the pandemic flu virus of 1918 solved. It arose, they claim, due to genetic material from a bird flu virus being introduced into the same person that already had an existing flu variant—the result was a pandemic that killed millions. Sadly, there's nothing stopping it from happening again.

And finally, an homage of sorts, as researchers in Britain have found that a mother's diet affects the 'silencing' of her child's genes. What a pregnant woman eats, they found, can have a profound impact on gene function in the baby she's carrying. Something those in the U.S, may want to ponder as we approach Mother's Day this Sunday. It might be a good time to send Mom a card, or something.